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Antwerp, 1570-1579

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One of the most important in the Theatrum, this map focuses on the North Pacific and includes the western coast of North America and the Eastern PART of Northern Asia. The geography is based on Ortelius’s wall map of the world (1564), and his eight-sheet map of Asia (1567).

The map’s main feature is the “Stretto di Anian,” which increased the public’s awareness of Gastaldi’s 1561 theory of a straight between Asia and America. At its southern entrance an enlarged Japan dominates. The greater part of China appears in some detail, and the map is covered with notations that include references to Marco Polo and the Great Khan. North America is shown from the Straits of Anian to the southern tip of the California peninsula. The Sierra Nevadas are named and there is a rudimentary attempt to map the Colorado River.